LawBizBlog : Law Practice Management, Lawyer Coaching, Legal Consulting, Law Firm Retreats : LawBiz Blog : Ed Poll

Ed advises: keep track of your work, bill timely, and collect efficiently.

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Ed advises: keep track of your work, bill timely, and collect efficiently.

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As Ed continues "On the Road!" he explores ways attorneys can relate the cost of their services to clients, who might be demanding a reduction.

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Ed discusses managing a client's fee expectations.

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Ed reveals how to define your target market and the tactics necessary to reach it.

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Your law practice is a business. You should know how to run it like one.

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Sometimes, you have to be explicit.  Here,  NO Motel is offered.

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Ed discusses alternative billing and how it relates to the elements of certainty and trust.

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Ed discusses 8 steps that law practitioners can take to survive a recession.

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Ed stresses the fact that knowledge of technology is now vital in order to be considered a competent lawyer.

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Whether it's a recession or a depression we're in, several lessons have surfaced we cannot ignore. This week, Ed ponders what we can learn from this crisis to ensure we're on the right track for the future.

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Ed examines the complexities of retainers and discusses their use within the legal profession.

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Do you know how your clients would rate you?

During today's clip, Ed will share some indicators that might help you gauge the rapport between you and your clients.

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Ed is often asked how much a law firm should allocate for advertising. The first thing he asks back is, "What is advertising?" Watch this week's clip to learn more.

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Ed speaks about the financing from a personal injury case.

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I’ve talked about a lawyer having an estate plan. I’ve talked about creating an estate plan for your law practice; this is an idea first generated by Ellen Peck, retired judge of the California State Bar Trial Court. Now, there is another estate plan to prepare: Digital.

What are you going to do with all your passwords, all your email accounts, all your accounts in social media and all your other accounts that reside in the internet?   

Your virtual life doesn’t end just because you die. And in some arenas, the material you have on the internet cannot be removed or taken down. You may even have money residing in some of the internet residences such as PayPal, on-line gambling accounts, etc. Be sure to appoint or designate someone to be responsible for dealing with these issues. Be sure to write down all the accounts and passwords. And be sure to contact such companies as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, etc. to comply with their policies.       

There is little or no case law to date about planning for digital assets after death, and certainly no precedent of which I’m aware on this. But, for just that reason, it’s time to think about these issues.

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For growth and expansion, there are two philosophies:

               Trail your growth (conservative), or

               Hire for the future (confident and assertive)

For troubled times, there are two philosophies:

               Slow to hire

               Quick to fire

 Lawyers should do only two things:

               Market for new business:

                              Only they know if they want to represent the prospect

                              Only they know if they’re competent to handle the matter

               Lawyering

                              Only the lawyer is licensed by the state to practice

All else can and should be handled by others

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Under current law, clients' trust accounts are protected under the IOLTA program. The FDIC provides unlimited insurance coverage.

However, unless extended by Congress, beginning January 1, 2013, such unlimited coverage will terminate and the new limit will once again be $250,000 per depositor. All funds held in such trust accounts as well as all funds held, personally, by the same client in the same institution will be considered in the $250,000 limit.

Be careful and review your bank's regulations and the funds you are holding for the benefit of your clients. Watch Congress for any "lame duck" laws on this and the FDIC and its responsive regulations. You may have to split clients' funds into two or more banking institutions in order to keep his/her money insured. And you may once again have the responsibility of checking on the financial soundness of the banking institution in which you maintain your clients' trust account.

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Ed notes that poor client service is responsible for 63% of clients leaving their law firm.

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A laundry list of charges … be careful what you do in this taxicab!

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Oftentimes, especially in the family law environment (but also in other matters), our emotions control us to the point of ignoring reality. We seek to hurt the other party to the litigation through our attorneys. And, far too often, our attorneys are willing accomplices.

As the attorney, what control do you have over your client? Do you perceive yourself as the master of the ship, or the mouthpiece ... do you consider yourself the advocate for the best interests of your client or the alter ego of your client.

Marlo Van Oorschot, as an outstanding family lawyer in Southern California, this week puts another spin on this question, asking whether you're a surgeon or a gangster.

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Ed discusses the virtual office and the importance of face-to-face client contact.

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Ed advises how to prevent the loss of your largest client from being devastating.

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Fact checking should be the backbone of every lawyer. I'm wondering why so many politicians, many of whom are lawyers, fail to fact check, or if they do fact check, fail to tell the full truth in their assertions.

Below is a list of "fact checkers" concerning recent assertions by politicians. Knowing that no political group is immune from "truth" distortions, we'll see what the Dem list looks like after their convention. We'll see if the distortions/lies are about the same issues.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/...arter-comments/

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert...small-dumb-lies

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-575036...ain;contentBody

http://www.care2.com/causes/top-5-worst-li...-ryan-told.html

http://globalgrind.com/news/paul-ryan-rnc-...ntion-lies-list

Clint Eastwood says lawyers shouldn't be president in reference to Obama, but Romney is a lawyer as well. And as a profession, lawyers have made the greatest contribution to this country. It's truly sad when we as voters cannot rely as factual what is being said and then focus on the issues and values of each perspective. Can we get back to what is truly important?

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The ABA Journal has opened the nomination process for its annual Blawg 100, a list of the 100 best law-focused blogs on the Web.

The publication is requesting short submissions from people who have found that my blog, LawBiz Blog (www.lawbizblog.com) has provided valuable and timely information in my area, law practice management.

If you have enjoyed my blog postings over the past year (and prior years), I hope you will act as one of my “friends of court.”  The process is quick and easy, and will take no more than a few moments of your time.

Simply click on the link below and fill out the short form. The deadline for submission is 7 p.m. ET on Friday, September 7th. 

Thanks in advance for taking part!

The Blawg 100 Amici Nomination Form

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Can one ever be rehabilitated from moral turpitude?

Remember Stephen Glass? He was the young journalist (in his 20’s) who lied and fabricated news stories. He was found out, disgraced and fired, never again to be hired as a journalist. A movie was made of his escapades, Shattered Glass. Fast forward through psychoanalysis, moving from New York to California, studying law, writing a successful  book about journalism and “growing up.”

He went to law school, clerked for two federal judges, and interned in a law firm. He applied to the New York Bar, but withdrew his application when he learned that he would be rejected on moral turpitude grounds. He has now applied for admission to the California Bar. He worked for a California personal injury lawyer. Each of his employers has supported his application.

Despite his literary success, his scholastic achievement, and his apprenticeship in the law … and the passage of more than 10 years since his misdeeds, the State Bar of California opposes his admission to the Bar, as did New York. He pursued, however, and the matter is now before the California Supreme Court, after a 10 day confidential bar trial.

The real question is whether Glass is rehabilitated. If you defile one profession (journalism), are you forever tainted thereafter? Is our “penal” system meant for retribution or rehabilitation? We allow lawyers who have stolen from trust accounts because of alcoholism and drug addiction (diseases) to reenter the practice of law. Is there a different standard here? Not being privy to the trial testimony, one can only wonder why the Bar is so adamant in its position, given the support for Glass that is public.

We don’t have a really good definition of moral turpitude beyond platitudes; it’s on a case by case basis. And we don’t have a really good definition of rehabilitation; again, this is on a case by case basis. But, Glass’ experience in the legal community suggests that he has learned his lesson … a particularly important lesson when one is an officer of the court and the court relies on attorneys’ assertions representing clients.

Perhaps I am a bit cynical here. But, I wonder why the Bar is so harsh on Glass when we all can call out the names of lawyers who misquote case citations in briefs and otherwise misrepresent to the court in order to advance their position. Yet, these lawyers are seldom reprimanded, let alone disbarred. And in the field of sport, we know athletes “cheat” in order to better their chances of winning a race, often with impunity. Yet, here we have a person who has “paid a high price” for his cheating, has done what he could to rehabilitate himself, and yet is being denied the license of his new chosen profession.

Why is it that drunks and alcoholics can be considered rehabilitated even when they have stolen from their clients trust accounts or have been involved with terrible accidents, sometimes causing death to their victims? But, liars? Liars who have not caused anyone physical injury? With due respect to the Bar of which I am a member, Glass did not commit a heinous crime and should be given another chance.

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Ed reveals the communication tools professionals can use to guarantee their work.

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Ed weighs the costs and benefits of writing books, articles, blogs, etc.

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Today, I realized that it is the 10 year anniversary of my riding up one of the most famous mountains in the world, Alpe d'Huez!

I rode a major mountain here in California earlier in the year, Mt. Figueroa about 1/2 hour north of Santa Barbara. It is the same mountain climb that many professional cyclists ride in the early months of the year to train for the Tour d'France and other major races. When I reached the top, the coaches at CTS Training (Chris Carmichael, then the coach of Lance Armstrong) assured me that this climb confirmed that I could climb any mountain in France. Well, in some disbelief, I made reservations the following week to go to France in July 2002.  And I did climb several of the other major climbs in that year's Tour, as well.

It's now 10 years later; time has taken its toll. But, I did start training to climb Mt. Fig. again this year. Wish me luck, though I'll need more than that ...

What's in your bucket list? What are you doing to achieve your goals?

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Are you billing appropriately? This week, Ed will offer handy tips that will help you collect what you billed to make sure that you're getting paid.
 

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Getting paid by the hour stresses us, according to Frank Partnoy. He says that "(i)nnovation doesn't occur in a year or a quarter---and certainly not an hour. So why measure work in too-brief increments?"

This is a novel rationale for moving toward the fixed or flat fee billing concept and away from hourly billing. During the 25 years of my law practice, I remember how stressed I was, always seeking to make sure that I had accounted for my time ... and correctly billing my clients. During the last 23 years of coaching and consulting .... and only flat/fixed fee billing, I'm focused on my clients' condition and how I can improve it, not on how much time it takes me to do so. As Partnoy says, "Clocks and calendars are not going to change -- so it is up to us to try to get off the clock, especially when we find ourselves watching it." (See Parnoy's "Wait: The Art and Science of Delay.")

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In the Wall Street Journal, staff writer, Jacqueline Palank discusses the Justice Department’s attempt to control fees that bankruptcy lawyers seek. Creditors and employees may, at times, be a bit disgruntled by such fees. So, now, the U.S. Trustee Program appears to be entering the fray.

Before going further, it should be noted that i) any fee sought by an attorney must first be approved by the client going into bankruptcy; ii) the fee cannot be paid before a Bankruptcy Court Judge approves the fee request; iii) the legal fees most often are a pittance compared to the debts of the company and thus have little or no impact on either the creditors or the employees. In fact, the current proposal is limited to companies whose assets and debts exceed $50 million, hardly your "normal" bankruptcy.

The only reason for focusing on the legal fees is that this is a topic that makes good reading in the tabloids, including the WSJ. While the quoted hourly rate received by some attorneys seems high, it is insignificant in comparison to the compensation received by incompetent CEOs and others in the C-suite offices. Why don’t the tabloids focus on the cause of the bankruptcy? Why not focus on the compensation of the management team, which often is at astronomically higher multiples compared the lowest paid employees of the company? Why not seek redress against the management that is responsible for bringing the company to its knees? Although this focus may have more positive economic impact, it clearly is not sexy enough to sell many papers.

The U.S. Trustee is proposing, according to the writer, several new approaches to control lawyers’ fees, including:

•    Though the lawyer applicant must disclose his/her hourly rate now, the Justice Department wants the lawyer to disclose the lowest, highest and average hourly rates the law firm charges in all its matters.

•    The Department wants the lawyer applicant to create and disclose to the Court a budget for legal expenses. This budget would, necessarily, disclose to all involved, including the creditors who are adversaries of the bankrupt, the client’s planned legal strategy.

In the 1960s, the Supreme Court ruled that it was anti-competitive for bar associations to maintain a listing of suggested fees for different types of work. Such a listing, in particular, helped younger and newer lawyers set their fees at rates that were more in line with more senior lawyers. Not having such a list would compel lawyers to set their own fees, the theory being that lawyers would then be more competitive with one another to the consumers’ benefit.  The Trustee by its first proposal ignores this. The existing disclosure already provides information that tends to be anti-competitive. Law firms can see what others are charging and price their own services accordingly, causing rates to slowly increase in lockstep over the years.

Intruding into the fees charged for practice areas, such as general business matters, estate planning, tax work, and other areas of work performed by the firms who also do bankruptcy work has no bearing on the special expertise of large company bankruptcy lawyers. No area of law other than bankruptcy requires such disclosure for court approval. Fees are left to be negotiated between attorney and client. Other than precedent, there is no reason disclosure should be made here either and the process should not be extended. “Transparency” is a bogus issue. There is no backroom conspiracy on how bankruptcy fees are charged. All the proceedings are public and must be approved by the Court before attorneys are paid anything.

Budgets are good. I recommend them to my attorney-clients with whom I consult. Budgeting is a process, however, between the client and the attorney. By requiring that bankruptcy budgets, which reveal legal strategy, be made public, the U.S. Trustee is saying that bankrupt companies have no rights. They have no right to advocacy; they have no right to develop a strategy that might affect creditors' claims; and they have no right of confidentiality. This is clearly contrary to the U.S. Constitution and our entire judicial system. While the bankrupts, and their inept management, may have proceeded down an economically unwise path, they still have rights to seek the best windup of affairs in their economic environment.

Don’t worry about the lawyers’ hourly rates once the bankruptcy petition is filed. They are regulated first, by the client, and second, by the Court. Who is watching the compensation of the management team before the company entered bankruptcy? Why are inept executives not punished with fines, or worse, for malfeasance and negligent management tactics? Why are they allowed to benefit so expansively at the expense of their workers? Why don’t the tabloids focus their sharp light there? Oh, I forgot, the tabloids need to sell papers, they are part of the industrial complex that both Presidents Washington and Eisenhower warned us about as they left office.  Perhaps the fact that quite a few newspapers and newspaper chains (Tribune Co. and papers in Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and many other cities) have been mismanaged and had to file for bankruptcy has something to do with it, too.

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